Trip Report Movin' In? Two Weeks in the World!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 11, 2016

PUSH said:
Finally had a chance to sit down and read your TR! Looking forward to the rest!

Great! Hope you like it!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 11, 2016

Day 5: June 25....It's our Anniversary. 11 years for us.

Today was the day to ride the new Frozen ride, so I had planned ahead and brought my Maelstrom shirt to wear. Brad said it was a silent protest, I said it was just a tribute to the past. I have Norwegian heritage, and while I think that Frozen is a good movie I wasn't in favor of a total rehaul of the attraction maybe putting in something to compliment Norwegian culture with the characters. Imagineers didn't consult me though, so I will have to live with it and hope children don't grow up thinking that Arandelle is a real place in Norway. In the end I did enjoy the ride and rode it two more times and I will ride it again in the future.

Anyway, we started the day with Soarin' which I think will always be a favorite. We also love to listen to the WDW Radio podcast and the host Lou Mongello was having a meet of the month at the Land so we stopped in to say hello. He is a really nice guy (at least that was our impression the couple times we've met him) and sometimes gets slammed because he is always so positive on his podcast but that is why we like it so well. There is so much negativity in the world we enjoy the positivity. The show is well researched too, I listen to a couple other podcasts and often detect mistakes in their information but I never had in his (but there could be I suppose).

After that it was over to Mission Space, orange for me and green for Brad.

Then to Frozen...Spoiler alert....Frozen Ride pictures below....

In the queue make sure you check out this board, it has some fun things to read on it. It is located shortly after you enter the building.

Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, I was not patient with getting good shots.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 11, 2016

We continued on through World Showcase, stopping to see the show in China. China also has a nice display right now to celebrate the opening of Shanghai Disneyland. We got a pretzel in Germany and finally made it to the UK for lunch.

Oh as we left the Frozen ride instead of walking thought the shops, we went outside and ran into these handsome fellas.

I think China and Japan have the prettiest pavillions with their gardens.

An example of a mosiac from Shanghai Disneyland

Tuvalu · Jul 11, 2016

MinnieM123 said:
Head first? (Were you drinking margaritas prior to going on that thing?!) I went up there years ago, took one look around, and left--never to return. NO thanks to any face-first rides!

I think it comes from my childhood love of sledding ~ head first!!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 11, 2016

We had a nice lunch at the Rose and Crown, but it was so hot out that we requested a table inside. We were willing to wait, plus we had never been seated inside and wanted to experience that. Luckily it wasn't a long wait and we got a neat table inside.

I got a black and tan. Brad got a rum and coke.

We shared the scotch egg. We had enjoyed this dish here for the first time a couple years ago and while we were in London we had some really excellent ones. This one was still good though.

I got the Welsh pub burger, it was super good. The fried leeks and some different sauces on it really made the whole thing pop. I have usually gotten the bangers and mash here, but I was glad I tried the burger. Because of this burger the Rose and Crown has risen higher on my list of restaurants in Epcot.

Brad got the fish and chips. He enjoyed them a lot, which is kind of funny. It is funny because we live in Wisconsin, and there are a ton of beer battered fish frys on Fridays and he refuses to ever go and claims not to like that stuff but he ate it here and when we were in London.

After lunch we headed out and did our usual pool/nap time.

Tuvalu · Jul 11, 2016

Woody and I also wed on June 25 ~ we've been married exactly three times longer than you and Brad :inlove:

.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 11, 2016

Since it was our anniversary we decided to try a new restaurant so that evening we headed to Narcoosee's at the Grand Floridian. It was a very nice meal. There is a lot of seafood on the menu, and I'm not a seafood fan but I found plenty to eat. In fact we ordered quite a lot, we don't regret it though! The thing about the restaurant is it was fancy but had a nice casual/relaxed vibe to it too. It must be the anniversary place because there were three other couples with anniversary buttons.

This was a fun creation in the little lobby, made out of chocolate.

Time for some food pictures!
Starting with the bread...

I must have been having too much fried foods, because this wedge salad sounded really appetizing. It was good too and bigger than I expected.

Brad got a softshell crab appetizer. He liked it.

I got a chicken dish, it was good but the sausage was really sweet. I would have liked it a little more savory.

I got a side of their signature mashed potatoes...yum!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 11, 2016

Brad got the halibut and the lobster mac and cheese. He really liked them.

As you can tell we got a lot of food, but I still had a tiny room for dessert and I knew if Brad could eat a little of it I could polish off the rest. For some reason even when I'm full I can always find room for a little chocolate. Well, we got the chocolate candy bar dessert and then were surprised with the almond crusted cheesecake as well for our anniversary. A very nice surprise but we/I didn't have room for two desserts! We ended up taking a couple bites and had the rest boxed up. It ended up being a breakfast for us on a different day. Both desserts were amazing.

Then we just hung out on the dock on a bench and watched the fireworks before making our way back to the resort. The view was nice, but it was hard to hear the music. Narcoosee's played it on their deck, so that was the music we heard even though there was a speaker (not operational apparently) in the dock area. I had the soundtrack on my phone so I brought that up and put it up to my ear so only I could hear it from my phone. We got to see some of the electrical light parade too.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 11, 2016

Tuvalu said:
Woody and I also wed on June 25 ~ we've been married exactly three times longer than you and Brad .

Awesome! I guess the best minds not only think alike but also pick the best days to get married!

Congrats to you and Woody!

Tuvalu · Jul 11, 2016

ajrwdwgirl said:
Awesome! I guess the best minds not only think alike but also pick the best days to get married! Congrats to you and Woody!

Ditto!

prfctlyximprct · Jul 11, 2016

Mmmmm, Narcoosee's looks so good!!!

donaldtoo · Jul 11, 2016

A little late to the party, but, you know me and "ketchup"!

I'm in!
Thanks for the tag...!

donaldtoo · Jul 11, 2016

ajrwdwgirl said:
The first real day of our trip started on my husband's birthday June 21st! (Although we stayed in Minneapolis the night before as we had an early flight and I didn't want to get up at 3 am to get to the airport.) As a birthday gift to him I surprised him with seats in first class as a little luxury for him and for me too. I had made sure I got online at the 24 hour before mark so I could get the the first class upgrade if it was available.I couldn't get us seats together but we were on the aisle and he was behind me, but at least I got them. I was excited for my surprise. Funny thing was, as we were at the hotel the night before flying out, hubby said we should check and see if we could upgrade, so I pretended to check (I just played a game on my phone) and told him sadly no upgrades (hehehe! I am such a fibber!)

Even though we knew we would have breakfast on the plane we wanted a little something to tide us over, and I needed my coffee. So we had a quick bite at Caribou Coffee. If you are ever in the Minnesota/upper Wisconsin area and like coffee go to Caribou it is so much better than Starbucks.

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Excited to board and less than an hour from departure!!
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On the plane!!! Are we happy for Disney, or that we just drank a little adult beverage (me: coffee with Baileys and him Rum and Coke). Or maybe both!?
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Landed!
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Don't worry our Magic Band's have been on since the gate area in Minneapolis!
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When we landed I had a text from Disney saying our room was ready, and a text from Garden Grocer that our groceries had been delivered and waiting for us. We had ordered some snacks, water, seltzer (I don't drink a lot of soda but I still like the bubbles), and Coke Zero to have on hand and save a little money. So with everything ready we were able to go right to our room, refresh a little, and head out!

So we just had to relax on the Magical Express and wait for the gate!
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Since we were staying for 2 weeks and wanted to stay within a range we did one week at the All Star Music and one week at the Caribbean Beach. The Music was a new resort for both of us, and we hadn't been back to the Caribbean since our honeymoon (11 years ago).

We were assigned the Broadway section of the Music which seemed like a long walk to the bus stop, but it was about 5 minutes. The shortest route to our room took us through the main building which gave us a blast of AC!
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Our Room
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And the view from our room, which I really don't care about a view at Disney. I suppose I would if I wanted to spend more time in the room but not at the All Stars.
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We've liked ASMusic the 3 times we've stayed there. But, yes, we also spend minimal time in the room.
There has always been at least 5 (6 with SonIL the last 2 times - most recent was Princess 5K Weekend this past Feb.) of us, so we have always stayed in a family suite.
First time in Calypso, the last 2 times in Jazz...!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 11, 2016

donaldtoo said:
A little late to the party, but, you know me and "ketchup"! I'm in!
Thanks for the tag...!

donaldtoo said:
We've liked ASMusic the 3 times we've stayed there. But, yes, we also spend minimal time in the room.
There has always been at least 5 (6 with SonIL the last 2 times - most recent was Princess 5K Weekend this past Feb.) of us, so we have always stayed in a family suite.
First time in Calypso, the last 2 times in Jazz...!

Thanks for coming to the party! I think the family suites would be nice and necessary for bigger groups of people.

donaldtoo · Jul 11, 2016

ajrwdwgirl said:
We checked in, seated, and it was time to eat! As we were seated the hostess told us that Chef Morimoto was in the house and might be talking to diners. We were excited, but we never saw him.

This was the chandelier in the entryway. It is really cool how they used the bottling theme and put bottles in the chandelier.
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This is the main dining room, with more cool chandeliers.
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The table setting, and no we didn't use the chopsticks.
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Let's start with the food....There was a lot we wanted to try so we decided to share plates. First up pork belly bao.
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5 Spice Chicken Wings, I thought these would be spicy hot, but it was a very pleasant flavoring.
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Morimoto's Spare Ribs, these were the best. I could've eaten them all. They were fall off the bone tender, and they are fried with what seemed like a panko crust.
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Peking Duck. I'd never had Peking Duck before so I didn't know what to expect. It was really tender but didn't have a lot of flavor, but that was fixed with some of the sauces that came with it, an apricot and a hoisin. There steamed flour pancakes with it but I wasn't too into those. I preferred the duck on its own.

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Hubby really enjoyed watching the kitchen, and look at all those ducks. I was really afraid the duck was going to come to our table with the head on.
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Good grief! The food...Peking duck, the ribs, etc. oh myyyyy...!!!

donaldtoo · Jul 11, 2016

OK, will do some more ketchup

on your wonderful TR tomorrow!
Loving it!
Again, thanks for tagging me...!

MinnieM123 · Jul 12, 2016

Congratulations on your 11th anniversary!! :inlove:

(And congrats to @Tuvalu on her 33rd!! :inlove:

)

I really like how you wore your Maelstrom shirt as more of a tribute to your heritage. Good for you. (It's also o.k. if you wore it for a protest statement, too!

)

You and Brad had the nicest anniversary day ever, and your choice of restaurants was perfect for the celebration! So glad the two of you had such a wonderful, memorable day.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 12, 2016

donaldtoo said:
Good grief! The food...Peking duck, the ribs, etc. oh myyyyy...!!!

I'm sure you would have loved the food. Add it to the list for your next trip!

MinnieM123 said:
Congratulations on your 11th anniversary!! (And congrats to @Tuvalu on her 33rd!! )

I really like how you wore your Maelstrom shirt as more of a tribute to your heritage. Good for you. (It's also o.k. if you wore it for a protest statement, too! )

You and Brad had the nicest anniversary day ever, and your choice of restaurants was perfect for the celebration! So glad the two of you had such a wonderful, memorable day.

Thanks Minnie! We did have a good anniversary, but even if we would have been hanging out at home it would have been a great day. I'm a lucky girl to have found such a great guy!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 12, 2016

Day 6: June 26

We went to the Studios this morning. I always forget in the summer months that my camera will be foggy in the morning because of the AC and humidity, so it looks like the bus stop is in a fog this morning!

Once at the Studios we went to the best attraction there...Tower of Terror! I went for a couple sepia tone pictures to represent the mood.

Then we went to Launch Bay as Brad wanted to geek out. He was thrilled when he got accosted by the storm troppers! And we met Kylo Ren. I teased Brad that Kylo was scary and then when we got out of the area Brad turned to me and said that Kylo was a little scary. Brad was wearing his BB8 shirt so Kylo was pretty intense to Brad about that.

So I let him geek out as much as he wanted because my "launch bay" was next on the agenda.....

We were really lucky today, the movie one man's dream was playing instead of some stupid movie preview. Fantastic!

Next was a little stop at Starring Rolls. We each picked an item to share. Brad picked the chocolate peanut butter cupcake. My sister always raves about the napoleon there so I thought we would give it a whirl. Both were good.

Then we watched the Indy Stunt show before heading back to the resort for some relaxing pool time, and of course a nap.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 12, 2016

We went over to the Magic Kingdom in the late afternoon. We got a hot dog at Caseys, mine is the good with without all that relish and onions. Then took a journey on the Jungle Cruise.

Then our supper was mac and cheese from the Friar's Nook in Fantasyland. I got the BBQ chicken mac and cheese and he got the pot roast. They were kind of skimpy on the pot roast this time, but both were still good.

One of my favorite things is to see the castle lit up at night, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

We ended the night with watching fireworks, this time from Town Square by the flag pole with some popcorn.

Trip Report Movin' In? Two Weeks in the World!

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